Official blog of paranormal romance author Ashley Jeffers.

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I realized today that I’d been away from the blog for much longer than I intended (not that I’m very good at keeping up with this anyway, but it’s been over two months, so…). So just a quick update on things…

1. Book 2 of the Blood Trilogy is going well. I’m just over half done with it (I know, I know, I should be further along, but…well, certain characters have been fighting me lately. They want to do their own thing, which has made the book go in a different direction than I’d planned. But we’ll get there. I’m really hoping to be finished with it by the fall, but you never know with these things!

2. I have two more book signings coming up in July. One is the Fenton Art Walk, and the other will be at CC & Company in Fenton (no date yet on that one). I’ll have both Blood of the Immortal and Heart of Lavora available at these.

3. As a result of my weird mind that can’t seem to stay on JUST ONE story at a time, I’ve been working on a couple other projects besides just Original Blood (working title for Blood 2). One is the story of the daughter of Eros, God of love. Another is a sci-fi/fantasy romance involving a warrior from another planet looking for a missing princess on Earth. I have a few others in my repertoire that I’ve put a few lines to paper on, but for the most part those are the ones I’ve been working on. I also have plans for Book 3 of Blood, but I can’t really work on that one until Book 2 is finished.

Someone really needs to crack a whip on me and force me to stick to just one project!

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In anticipation of the release of Heart of Lavora,here’s a little interview with the main character, Skye. Enjoy!

Name: Skye Lockhart

Age: 20

Appearance: Long auburn hair, teal eyes, short frame, beautiful

Personality: Intelligent, studious, kind, brave, self-reliant, and protective of those she loves.

The perfect actress to play the role of Skye would be Jane Levy.

What is your favorite fairy tale?

When I was younger, I loved Beauty and the Beast. It taught me to see people for who they are inside, rather than what they look like on the outside. But I don’t believe in fairy tales anymore. Life isn’t all hearts and roses like most fairy tales portray. Loved ones leave, and those you should be able to trust can hurt you. You can’t just sit back and expect a prince to come save you.

If you could have one wish, what would it be?

I’d want to see my parents again. They died on my seventeenth birthday, and I never got the chance to say goodbye.

What is your biggest fear?

Right now, my ex. He’s insane, and won’t stay away from me. He’s also incredibly violent. To be honest, I’m not sure what I ever saw in him. Maybe I thought there was a good guy under his bad boy exterior. Boy, was I wrong!

If you had a superpower, what would it be?

Superpower? Well…if they were real, I guess it would be cool to move things with my mind. Maybe hear the thoughts of others. But they’re not, so… next question.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I know this is going to sound stupid, but I wish I could tan. I can spend hours out in the sun, with no sunscreen, and my skin doesn’t change at all. It doesn’t burn, tan, or even get any freckles. I’m sure there are people out there that would think it would be great to have that, but frankly, it’s annoying.

What’s your biggest personality flaw?

That one depends on who you ask. I’d say it’s that I’m a bit anti-social, and would rather spend my time working on finishing college and listening to music than going out. My cousin Hanna says it’s that I’m stubborn. She thinks I refuse to ask for help with anything because I’m afraid. But really, I just like to be independent.

Do you have any secrets?

Aside from the fact that I haven’t told my aunt and uncle about my ex, I don’t have any. I’ve kept secrets for other people, but that’s about it.

Describe your ideal date.

Something simple. Maybe dinner and a movie. It doesn’t have to be fancy. As long as we can talk easily, and that spark is there, it would be great.

What do you look for in a guy?

Someone I can talk to, someone that will treat me like an equal. Obviously there has to be an attraction, but I don’t really have a specific look that I go for. Oh, and he can’t be vain. I don’t care how good-looking he is, if he acts like he’s God’s gift to women, I’m out.

Do you believe in love at first sight?

I believe you can feel an instant connection with someone, but I’m not sure if it’s love. I’d like to think it exists. Hanna claims she fell in love with her boyfriend when they first met, but I’m still on the fence about it. If it ever happens to me, I’ll let you know.

Keep an eye out for more information on the characters from the novel. Heart of Lavora will be available April 3!

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I’m hoping to have my next novel, Heart of Lavora, out by next month. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting info about the book, characters within it, and updates on how the publishing is going. For now, here’s the blurb for the novel!

Skye doesn’t believe in fairy tales. In her mind, happily-ever-after doesn’t exist. It can’t, not when her abusive ex-boyfriend won’t leave her alone. But all that changes when she meets Aiden.

She recognizes him the minute they meet—as the man she’s spent weeks dreaming about. While she can’t explain it, she feels an instant connection to him. Electricity strikes every time they touch. He knows things about her before she says them. After witnessing the aftermath of a run-in with her ex, all efforts to keep her distance prove futile. Aiden refuses to allow it to happen again.

But Aiden is hiding a big secret. So is everyone else around Skye. Learning the truth makes her realize there’s more out there than she ever imagined, and throws her into the middle of a war between two factions of Sidhe. Only the Heart of Lavora can save both the Sidhe and the humans from destruction.

Can Skye discover how to bring peace to both lands? Or will the war ravaging Lavora spill into the human world?

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It’s short notice, I know, but… I will be doing a book signing Saturday, January 17th, at Past Tense Books in Holly, MI. The bookstore is located downtown, right on Saginaw Rd, south of Grange Hall. It’s above Morgan’s Boutique. The signing will be from 1 until 3 pm, so if you’re interested in getting a signed copy of Blood of the Immortal, stop in to see me!

I’m working hard on Book 2 of the series, currently titled Original Blood. It’s a bit different from the first, as the story is told from two main characters: Corbin and Zoe. And NO, they are NOT a couple. If you’ve read Book 1, you know why. The both have their own romantic interests. The story also takes place twenty years after the end of the first.

I also have a plan for Book 3, and have one chapter down (kinda hard to work on it when the second hasn’t played itself out yet). And it’s main character (drum roll, please)… VIC! Yes, he’s getting his own book. (You’re welcome to a certain individual that kept bugging me about giving him one)

In the near future, I plan on posting a short story that is related to Heart of Lavora, the fae novel I recently finished. I’ve debated putting it into the novel as a prologue, since it explains what happened 200 years in the past to cause the current conflict. As of right now, it’s not going in, but we’ll see what happens.

Looking forward to the signing, and maybe seeing some of you there! Happy Reading!

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So I was tagged by Nancy Tucker, a fellow author, to do a post about a character in an upcoming book. In turn, I’m tagging Brenda Hasse and W.C. Hoffman.

The idea of this is to introduce a character from a recently completed piece or a work-in-progress. The following questions were part of the challenge:

What is your character’s name?

Is your character a fictional or historical person?

When and where is the story set?

What should we know about him/her?

What is the main conflict/ what messes up up his/her life?

What is the personal goal of the character?

Is there a working title for the book and where can we read more about it?

When can we expect it to be published?

We’re then supposed to tag other authors, asking them to do the same, and we put little bios for those authors the the end of our post. So, here goes!

1-2. My character’s name is Skye Lockhart, and she is fictional.

3. Most of the story takes place in the fictional city of Haven, located on the coast of Mass. (Though now that I think about it, the name of the city is only given once, and I never say the state.) In the last few chapters, the characters travel to the Sidhe homeland, called Lavora.

4. Skye isn’t what she thinks she is. In other words, she’s not a normal young woman. Certain aspects of her life, her heritage, have been hidden from her. She prefers to solve problems on her own, not wanting to rely on others or possibly risk their safety. That being said, when she knows she can’t do something on her own, she’ll go to others.

5. The conflict begins with Skye attempting to distance herself from her abusive ex-boyfriend, but it becomes much more. Skye is smack in the middle of a two-century long battle between Sidhe clans. She must discover her strength if she is to bring an end to the war.

6, In the beginning, Skye’s goal is to get away from her ex. Later, it shifts to finding a way to end the war, keep her family safe, and protect everyone in the human land.

7. The working title is Heart of Lavora. I’ll probably be posting more information about it on my blog soon.

8. I’m in the process of sending to agents at the moment, so I don’t have an exact date as to when it’ll be out.

Brenda Hasse is an author of children’s books, as well as young adult novels. She has several children’s books out, such as My Horsy and Me, What Can We Be?, A Unicorn For My Birthday, and Yes I Am Loved. Her YA novel is titled Wilkinshire.

W.C. Hoffman’s debut novel, Twins of Prey, is a great outdoors mystery/action story based in the woods Michigan. It’s part of a three book series, and book two should be out soon! (Sorry, I don’t remember the exact date, though I believe it’s in October)

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The people that know me personally, and know I am responsible for three children under the age of five (my husband works about 12 hours a day), often ask me when I find time to write. The answer is whenever I can.
I’ll find something to occupy my kids, open the laptop, and just write, even if it’s only for five or ten minutes. I always have a notebook with me, usually in the center console of my car, or in my bag. My youngest two tend to fall asleep in the car, so on days they’re fussy and I can’t get them to go down, I’ll take a drive until they’re out, then I park and write. This works better when my oldest is in school, as he doesn’t nap anymore (bummer), and I’m lucky if I get a half hour, but at least it’s a half hour of quiet time to work!
Most of the time, I don’t get to do anything until after I’ve put the kids down to bed, which happens to be just before 9 pm. This is if I’m lucky. They don’t like to go down without a fight. Even then, it’s not distraction-free writing time. The hubs will have the TV on, or want to talk, so in total, I might get another half hour of writing time before I go to sleep around 11.
Now that I’m putting this down on paper, I’m realizing how little time that is. Realistically, I’m lucky if I get 3 hours total of time to write. I’m sure my husband would disagree with that number, as he thinks that’s all I ever do, but if I’m honest with myself, I’m lucky to get that much time.
I happen to be a night owl, so working at night doesn’t bother me. In fact, I think I probably write better stuff at night, when I’m not getting up constantly to break up a fight or feed kids, or pick up some sort of mess they’ve made. I can actually FOCUS then. But if the muse is whispering to me in the middle of the day, I can’t ignore her. Sometimes, much to my husband’s dismay, the laundry or the dishes just have to wait a bit. It’s not like they’re going anywhere (unlike my kids).
The point of this is, no matter how much or little time I have, I just have to write. It’s what I love. Yes, this means it can take me longer than I hope to finish stories, but as long as I JUST WRITE every day, I’ll eventually get them all on paper.